The Motor City is Back

The troubles in Detroit have been written about to death. The city has seen its auto-generated crest well and truly fall in a sea of race riots, unemployment and people getting out of the place in their masses. Well, little did they know. Outside of business, Detroit has always had plenty to offer. There are many great sports teams in the area, including the Tigers, the Red Wings, the Pistons, and the college football teams of Michigan and, a little further out, Michigan State. Even the much-maligned Lions are joining the party now, having reached the play-offs this season. Of course, there is always the music and arts too. As well as the magnificent Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Opera House, the city has produced awesome rock, pop and soul over the years, with names like Bob Seger, Iggy Pop and the entire Motown roster leading the way. The current Detroit music scene is second to none, with hundreds of new local bands getting together annually for the Blowout Festival. Detroit very obviously rocks. Sadly, those things do not translate into a significant amount of money for the city. Benzinga is already here, and we are working to build from our own corner, but what Detroit needs is an upturn in business, led by the Big Three automakers. Wait a minute – that is what is happening. Yep, against all odds, 2011 was a great year for

,

and

. In fact, following a strong December for the trio, they are on course for the first year in decades in which they could all gain market share. Who saw that coming three years ago? According to

, GM posted a 4.5 percent gain in December sales, which gives the company a 13 percent rise for the year. Ford saw its best December sales in five years, as sales rose 10 percent for the month. It saw an 11 percent gain for the year. Chrysler had the biggest gain by some distance, with December sales up 37 percent, lifting sales for the year to 26 percent. The article states that, “Final market share information for the year won't be available until other automakers such as Toyota Motor

report December sales later Wednesday. But market share was up for all three U.S. automakers going into December, according to sales tracker Autodata. If those increases hold up, it will mark the first time since 1988 that all three posted market share gains at the same time.” Further, “GM's market share was at 19.7% for the 11 months through November, up from 19.1% in 2010, putting it on track for its first share gain since 2002. Ford's market share was only slightly higher, at 16.8% in November 2011 vs. 16.7% in 2010. Assuming those gains are sustained, it would mark the third straight year of increases for Ford, a feat it hasn't achieved since 1970. Chrysler Group was set to post the biggest increase, with 10.7% market share as of November, up from 9.4% in 2010. Those figures don't include any market share from the Fiat brand, which was reintroduced in the U.S. in 2011.” All which tells us what we at Benzinga knew already. There is no place like Detroit.